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Shay Edwards Wins 2007 California State Science Fair Competition

June 20, 2007 (Norco, CA ) — For the second year in a row, Corona Norco Unified School District sophomore Shay Edwards has won second place in the annual California State Science Fair.

His entry titled, Correlation of Thermographic Assessment of Vascular Reactions with BMI, Heart Rate and Stress was chosen from nearly 1000 middle and senior high school students during the final round of statewide competition.

In order to compete at the State level, students must first qualify at the regional level before advancing to the State Fair. Edwards won first place at the 4 county regional fair on April 18 qualifying him for the State competition for the 5th year in a row.

Not content to rest on his laurels, Shay accepted invitations from the University of California at San Francisco and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to participate in poster sessions summarizing his research. On June 12, Shay presented his work at the San Francisco campus of UC followed by a similar presentation at the Cambridge, MA campus of MIT in July. Shay’s work was presented along with that of college undergraduates, graduate students and PhDs. Jim Seffrin, Director of Infraspection Institute attended the MIT session as Shay’s mentor.

Shay describes his current and past science fair projects as follows: “Over the past five years all of my research projects have involved thermal imaging. In 2006 my research involved using a thermal imager to study the effects of cold stimulation on autonomic vascular reactions in humans. My 2007 research sought to correlate the same type of reactions with participants’ Body Mass Index, heart rate and stress.”

Infraspection Institute of Burlington, NJ has been providing support and guidance to Shay since his first science fair competition five years ago. Infraspection Institute’s Director, Jim Seffrin, was particularly thrilled with Shay’s accomplishments this year.

“Working with Shay has been a genuine pleasure. Shay is an intelligent and dedicated student. He carefully chooses his projects, never shrinks from a challenge and is meticulous in his fieldwork. We are proud to call Shay and his parents friends.”

Shay continues, “I was invited to attend the Infraspection Institute’s annual IR/INFO Conference once again this past January. Many of the IR/INFO Conference attendees participated as subjects in my research. I am very grateful for everyone’s help. I am especially thankful to Infraspection Institute and Mr. Seffrin for all of his help throughout all of my projects.”

If you wish to send a word of encouragement, or to request your images and assessment sheet, you may send Shay an e-mail.